


Media Blitz

by Nixie_DeAngel



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Fake/Pretend Relationship, Fluff, M/M, Mentions of other characters - Freeform, Protective Steve Rogers, Steve is a dumb himbo, The press using derogatory language against Tony, Tony and Pepper friendship, Tony tells Pepper the story of how Steve was an idiot to the press, but he just wants to keep Tony safe from all
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-04
Updated: 2020-01-04
Packaged: 2021-02-26 05:00:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,378
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21963985
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nixie_DeAngel/pseuds/Nixie_DeAngel
Summary: “Well, if I hadn’t, Pep pot, we wouldn’t we be reliving the weirdest two weeks of my life. Again,” Tony points out. “And really, that’s saying something considering last year you, Nat, and I got sent to that pleasure planet with bird boys one and two.”“We agreed that would never be spoken of again,” she cuts in, eyes sharpening into a fierce glare.Or, reason number 3 on why Pepper Potts shoulder never be allowed to have a vacation that allows for a media black out while she lounges on a beach by herself.
Relationships: Steve Rogers/Tony Stark
Comments: 19
Kudos: 173
Collections: 2019 Captain America/Iron Man Holiday Exchange





	Media Blitz

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Fluffypanda](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Fluffypanda/gifts).



* * *

“You did _what_ now?”

“Once again,” Tony cuts in before Pepper can get truly worked up into a good rant, “Let me state for the record, this was in no way shape or form my fault, Pep. Honest. FRIDAY, Bird Brain and Manchurian Candidate can back me up. Agent neck-stabber too, for that matter.”

Bringing her hands up to rub at her temple, Pepper squeezed her eyes firmly shut and began to count backwards from fifty in her mind. Take a few deep breaths to slowly release them as she once again questions for life decisions, before letting her hands drop back down onto her desk as she moves to eye him for a long moment. Shoulders dropping, she leans forward. “All right, start from the beginning. And leave nothing out, Tony.”

Shifting in his seat, he flicks his eyes — Pepper would think it was almost nervously if she didn’t know her friend as well as she did — around the room from beneath his lashes, as he wrung his hands together. “Well,” he starts, only to stop to clear his throat. “Well, I guess it really started that Monday, before you left? For your vacation?”

Humming, Pepper nods slowly.

“Okay, well, um, well I guess that’s the day it started? At least the media bit — and again, not my fault, I had no idea he was gonna do what he did-”

“Tony.”

“Right, right, well I was just coming back from your send off slash our monthly catch up, and you’d mentioned about the portable medical scanner, and I got to thinking, and one thing lead to another, so I wasn’t really paying attention when the car dropped me off at the front entrance, instead of the usual garage one.”

“Please tell me you noticed _before_ getting out of the car?” 

“I’ve already had FRIDAY order you a truly impressive number of new shoes and spa certificates,” his face morphed more into a question, which belays his statement, twisting it more into the question it wasn’t stated as. 

Pepper shakes her head, letting out a sigh before asking, “You got out of the car?”

“Well, if I hadn’t, Pep pot, we wouldn’t we be reliving the weirdest two weeks of my life. Again,” Tony points out. “And really, that’s saying something considering last year you, Nat, and I got sent to that pleasure planet with bird boys one and two.”

“We agreed that would never be spoken of again,” she cuts in, eyes sharpening into a fierce glare, " _Ever._ "

“I thought that was because Agent came back from the dead just to make us spend two weeks doing paperwork, which basically stated we’d be murdered by Hill if we so much as breathed a word of what happened to Cap and his boy band?” Shrinking back as her glare gets more heated. “Riiiiiiight, anyway,” clearing his throat, he shifts in his seat. “Where was I?”

“You got out of the car.”

“Yes, right, so I get out and the car is already rolling away when I realized they’d dropped me off at the wrong entrance, and before I could make any sort of escape or correct the kerfuffle-”

“Kerfuffle?”

“Wilson bought Cap and Build a Buck word a day calendars.”

“Right,” she says, drawing the word out slowly before shaking her head, obviously not going to question it further than that. 

“Anyway, the vultures that have seemed to have nested on our front stoop spotted me and swarmed me before I could literally do anything. And well, for the most part it was their usual BS, nothing we haven’t heard or dealt with in the past.”

“That does not explain the headlines and _a truly_ impressive number of emails and notifications I came back to this morning, Tony.”

“Well, that’s because Steve and Bucky were coming back from either a run or visiting Brooklyn or whatever it is senior citizens their age are doing these days, when I was first starting to be swarmed the cockroaches,” he explains, shooting up to start shuffling around her office, picking things up and playing with them before putting them back down and moving onto another object.

“Focus,” she snaps, “Please, Tony, focus and finish the story.”

“Yes, right, right, so the press were yammering — again, things we’ve dealt with before — when all I know is Steve is suddenly plastering himself to my side, his arm wrapping around my waist and stating loudly to the whole street, and subsequently the entire world, really because some of those _people_ had their phones out filming, that we were in a happily committed relationship and that we’d recently gotten engaged. Which really,” Tony’s voice started going a little high as he carried on, “Because this was news to me, Pep, because I had _no idea_ was dating Steven Rogers, a. k. a. Captain America otherwise _I’d have been climbing that like a tree for years now!_ ”

Falling back into her seat, Pepper honestly had nothing as she stared at Tony dumbfoundedly for a few moments. "You-really? I mean." Cutting herself off, she rubs at her face for a moment before dropping it down to the arm of her chair. "Did _someone_ at least have a talk with Steve about what's okay to tell the press and what's _not_?"

“I started too?” Tony offers a little sheepishly.

“Started too? What does that even mean?”

“Okay, to be fair, it took a few minutes but between me, Steve and Barnes we got ourselves into the building and up to the common floor,” he rambles, “And I really did _try_ to explain why what he did was bad, not only for him but also for me and the Avengers, when he cut me off apologizing, bumbling his way into explaining that he _hates_ how the media treats me and he’d heard one of the vultures on the street implied what a man whore I was, and how he just didn’t think and started sprouting the first thing that he could.” 

“That is oddly sweet. Completely inappropriate, he should have tried a different route, but sweet nonetheless,” she says before trailing off as she notes Tony’s doing something she’d _never_ seen before, “Are you blushing?”

“What? No, of course not, I don’t, you, what?” Tony splutters, the blush spreading from his cheeks down to his neck and up to his ears.

“Oh my God,” Pepper breathes out before laughing as she watches her friend splutter about, denying the fact he was blushing, despite the fact she was literally watching him do it. “Oh, there’s a story there,” she grins, moving to cross her arms on her desk as she leaned forward. “Spill.”

“There, there might have been some, uh, outing” Tony grumbles, as he stalks over to drop into his seat. “Possibly from Manchurian Candidate about why Steve’s first instinct was to announce we were dating, instead of, um, doing something more reasonable.”

“And?”

“And Honeybear, who was in town for a visit — he’s a traitor and FRIDAY is under strict orders to play Dancing Queen every time he enters a room, and you are _not_ allowed to make her stop — might, _might_ have let it slip that I would be open to, uh, feelings as well.”

“ _And_?” she presses.

“We might have possibly had a third date just last night?” He mumbles.

“Tony!” Pepper cries, both thrilled that they seemed to have finally done something about their feelings — and more importantly, the unresolved sexual tension that followed them _everywhere_ — but also because she was only finding out about it now.

“What? You were on a vacation,” he pointed out, “One you told me not to bother you on, unless Hydra had taken SHIELD over again or if some purple dried raisin was attacking the planet!”

“Ugh, Tony,” she cursed as she hit the button for her secretary on her phone. “Bonnie, please reschedule my meetings for the day, I’ll be out.” Standing up, she started gathering her things. “Come on, you owe me both a spa day and a completely detailed explanation for _everything_ that’s happened in the two weeks I was in Aruba. And I do mean everything, Tony Stark.”

"Will that be all Ms. Potts?"

Laughing as she rounded her desk, "That'll be all Mr. Stark."

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you enjoy this!
> 
> I'm Nixie! You can find me where I post the things I [create](https://nixies-creations.tumblr.com/), or at my main blog [here](http://nixie-deangel.tumblr.com/)!


End file.
